1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for creating a two-sided picture
2. Background
Two-sided printing has usually meant printing one image on one side of a medium and printing a different image on the other side of the medium, such as is normally done when printing text and pictures on both sides of a piece of paper in a newspaper or book. Improvements in two sided printing have primarily involved improved ways to print two separate images on two sides of a single medium, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,848, or in new digital printer media allowing simultaneous processing of printed images on both sides of a single medium, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,740.
Other two sided printing improvements have described methods for printing on one side of a medium and then applying an adhesive and folding, resulting in a single object with images printed on both sides, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,562,171. Another example of this is Chinese patent CN 2,216,261Y, which describes a method to create a transparent dual-sided photo. This invention also requires creating 2 separate images and then using an adhesive to hold them together.
The abovementioned inventions all require printing two separate images on two different sides of a medium, or creating 2 images and attaching them together.
Alternatively, another way to accomplish two-sided printing has been via the use of a two-sided decal, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,617. The decal in this invention, however, must be viewed through a transparent cylindrical object such as a glass. For that reason, it is not really a two-sided image, but rather a method of simultaneously viewing two separate images that have been printed in two different locations on different sides of a single decal.
Still another alternative has been to create a two-sided display that shows images from both sides, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,161. This invention covers the making of two-sided visual displays printed on a transparent medium for attachment to a window, screen or object. With this method both sides of the display must be identical mirror images, which is a significant limitation. In order for the display to be seen from either side it is also required that no backing or underlayment color be used. The patent itself acknowledges that an underlayment layer would improve the appearance of the display.
Therefore, the devices and methods for two-sided printing are all deficient. Deficiencies of previous methods include, but are not limited to the following: a) Improvements in printing on two sides of a medium have added nothing to the end product; they have merely provided a faster or cheaper way to produce what was done previously. The end product looks no different than if it had been printed on one side of a medium and then turned over and printed on the other side. b) Methods that describe printing two separate images and then attaching them together with an adhesive have only provided another improvement for printing. Other than a double thick medium held together with adhesive, the end product again looks no different than what has been done previously. c) Methods that create new and unique two-sided images such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,617 have severe limitations. It must, for example, be viewed through a transparent cylindrical object. It also has not really created a two-sided picture, merely a way to view 2 separate images on two sides of the medium simultaneously. d) Other methods that create identical front and back images that can be viewed from two sides have serious limitations. Since the front and back views are the same image, any novelty of the end product is greatly diminished. In addition although the images are identical, one side must be a mirror image of the other side; so any image that cannot be properly viewed as a mirror image, such as text, cannot be used. This method also fails to provide for any underlayment to the image thus degrading the quality of the image.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and unique method to create a two-sided image. In addition to a new way to create the image, another objective of this invention is to produce an end product that is novel and unique.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an aesthetically pleasing image that can serve the same purpose as conventional portraits and photographs, but in an entirely new visually pleasing and informative manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to create a two-sided image that does not require printing two separate images and attaching them together. The image created should be a single image printed on only one side of a medium. It should not require attaching two images together. The created image should also not have excessive restrictions on how it is viewed or where it is placed.
Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image that provides one view when seen from the front and a different view when seen from the back. By use of the methods described herein it is possible to create an image that shows the front and back of the image in the same picture. The image thus created has wide applications from personal photographs of people and objects, to instructional applications on how to use an item or product, to new and novel ways to attract attention to a product at point of sale or for promotional applications.